I have been a big fan of Ben Weaver’s music since I first heard “Stories Under Nails” and am delighted to review an album that has been gestating for four years since the 2020 pandemic. Ben sent Henry Toft poems and Toft made electronic sketches (and synthesised sounds) to accompany the poems, engineer Tom Herbers and Weaver adding overdubs. Using recorded sounds from the Saint Paul, Minnesota landscape to create bridges between tracks, the outcome is described by Ben as a collection of sonic poems designed to be “listened to and experienced like a book.” Weaver narrates and adds guitar, banjo, bass and percussion; Mike Munson also plays bass, J.T. Bates is the drummer and percussionist, and there are two other vocalists in Siri Undlin and Stong Buffalo (also chant).
It all reminded me of Jim Morrisons’ seminal “American Prayer” album, but the comparison does not really hold as Ben’s approach is far less demonstrative than on that particular album, much more laid back and as one commentator said its main purpose may be to induce balm and affirm hope and resilience. Having said that, glancing at my copy of Morrison’s collected poetry (The Lords and The New Creatures), one finds similarities, but I don’t know what commonality, if any, they have. Weaver’s poetic sonic realisation is all very ambient, bordering on minimalistic in places, and mollifying, more like an audio book than the kind of music I was used to hearing on albums like “Paper Sky”, “The Ax in the Oak” and “Mirepoix and Smoke”. Ben’s banjo, a recurring distinctive feature of his works is to be heard very much in the background on tracks like ‘Rain on the Seeds’ – a little more to the fore on concluding track ‘Wooden Axle’; even the chant on ‘Buffalo Says’ is way back in the mix.
What we have on “Stay With” is Ben Weaver the poet, rather than Ben Weaver the songwriter and musician. His main concerns have always been environmental, expressing a deep care for our planet; as it says on his Bandcamp page he uses his music as a tool to strengthen relationships between people and their local ecosystems.
Comments